Visa extension

Maripaz

Hello everyone, I am new in Bali and just extending my visit visa for the first time . Would you recommend do the visa extension yourself or go through an agency ? I have read it's a bit of a pain to do it yourself, any advice or agency to go with

spicyayam

I think it depends on what you value more, time or money? Doing it yourself can take 2-3 visits and a bit of patience. If you prefer enjoying your holiday and have the money to have an agent do it, then that is the option I would take.

Maripaz

Thank you for the replay . What is the average cost of paying an agency to do it for you?

JackStraw

Maripaz wrote Thank you for the replay . What is the average cost of paying an agency to do it for you?

If you're on a VOA or Social Visa, I heard from a friend who has pretty close ties to visa agents/imigrasi agents that they are starting to crack down on Bule taking advantage of this grey area. Apparently, one two many "digital nomads" have been caught working illegally in Bali. So just be careful and be ready to pack up and leave if a sudden visa rule change happens soon.

Mark

Maripaz wrote Hello everyone, I am new in Bali and just extending my visit visa for the first time . Would you recommend do the visa extension yourself or go through an agency ? I have read it's a bit of a pain to do it yourself, any advice or agency to go with

Welcome to the forum. I'd like to offer a bit of contrarian advice, and that is to do it yourself, at least for the first time. Immigration in Bali, especially at Renon, Denpasar is run very professionally and I have found the employees there to be uniformly helpful and polite. So why not find out for yourself how things work? If in future you consider it to be too much of a pain, then you can pay an agent to do the work for you, but at least you will know the system and whether what you are paying for is worth it.

britoo

Maripaz, can you confirm that you are extending a Visa on Arrival (VOA) rather than a social visit visa (Sosbud) as there are important differences, most notably the need for a local sponsor for the Sosbud. The basic cost of the extension in either case is 500k Rp payable at a bank as immigration no longer handles payments. I recently spoke with someone who paid 900k Rp inc. immigration fee to use an agent to extend a VOA. Expect to find wildly different quotes and expect to pay more for a Sosbud if the agent is also acting as the sponsor perhaps. Immigration is in Jimbaran so the choice does depend on where you are located here and how mobile you are. If you are comfortable riding a scooter around, and say below the line running from Canggu to North Sanur I'd agree with Mark, do-it yourself so you can see and understand the process. If you arrive at the office prepared at 8 - 8.30 you will be out by 9.30 and can then use it as an excuse to explore Jimbaran or Ulluwatu for the day. Or if you live in the deep South an excuse to head North. If you need to make three return taxi trips of any distance the agent cost is going to start to look cheap. You will need to bring along your original passport, a photocopy of the photo page, a copy of the visa stamp page and a copy of your onward travel ticket out of Indonesia to get a VOA extension. For a Sosbud you dont need the outgoing ticket but you need copies of your sponsors KTP and a pro-forma sponsor letter from your sponsor to apply. If not using an agent your sponsor must be physically present for the first visit. Theres a copy shop run out of a truck parked in the front yard normally but I prefer to be ready when I arrive copies in hand. At reception they'll check your docs are present and correct and give you a form to complete. You are supposed to start the process a week early though staff are generally very reasonable if you come late but its no longer possible once you visa has expired on the 30th day with your arrival day counting as day 1 - Don't get caught out! As noted in an earlier reply, you will need to make 3 journeys in total rather than 1 so this may be the decider for you. Hope this is helpful. Regards

SamD

My agent in Seminyak charged me 800,000 to extend my VOA. To sponsor me for Sosbud I paid her 1.5million. She provided all the paperwork via email and it all went smoothly. I used the Sydney consulate. The Sosbud visa itself cost another $aud80.